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Human Enculturation

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Adaptation; Morality; Social organization; Social values; Socialization; Spiritualism

Definition

The progressive adaptation of human species within organized social norms that are characterized by values and social order.

Introduction

The values that describe human societies managed to create a culture that renders humans as the only species to be separated qualitatively from other animals. It is argued that the tendency of early humans to be curious in their nature fostered the learning of useful strategies that selectively became genetic capabilities and which rendered the ongoing development of culture as a remarkable achievement. Human species evolved over generations, and communication became more complex. Arbitrary cultural meanings are found to be assigned to animate and inanimate objects in the environment, allowing for a vivid indication that early culture initiations were occurring. As communication is a vital component in the realm of enculturation, language...

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Correspondence to Xenia Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous .

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Karaiskaki, A., Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, X. (2018). Human Enculturation. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1076-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1076-1

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